New East Hampton Star Magazine to Debut
East, a magazine designed to reflect the best of the South Fork and published by The East Hampton Star, will debut June 23 with Biddle Duke as its editor. It will appear four times in 2016, with additional issues in July, August, and November.
“The magazine enables us to pull back and put everything in perspective, both from the journalism and writing perspective but also with photography,” Mr. Duke said.
He is the former publisher of The Stowe Reporter and Waterbury Record newspapers. Mr. Duke had previously been a reporter at the Evening Post Publishing Company in South Carolina, which publishes the Post and Courier of Charleston. He divides his time between Stowe and Springs.
East is expected to appeal to year-round residents, part-time residents, and visitors, David E. Rattray, the editor of The Star, said. Its stories are a mix of entertainment and hard news. It includes writing by Michael Shnayerson, a contributor to Vanity Fair and the author of several books, most recently, “Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer’s” with B. Smith and Dan Gasby; Carl Safina, a naturalist and author of “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel,” and Iris Smyles, whose new novel, “Dating Tips for the Unemployed,” will be released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt next week.
“East presents an opportunity for The Star to reach a broad audience and find new readers eager for a serious, in-depth take on the East End’s remarkable people, nature, and the arts,” Mr. Rattray said.
“There is a whole community of people who are powerfully connected to this place who don’t get featured in the array of other media that exists here,” Mr. Duke said. “A beautiful, local magazine, that’s the idea.”
Other writers include The Star’s Laura Donnelly, Irene Silverman, Jennifer Landes, and Amanda M. Fairbanks, whose in-depth profile of the Round Swamp Farm’s Lester, Niggles, and Snyder families is among the debut issue’s anchor features.
Photography for the first issue came from Andrew Blauschild, Philippe Cheng, Sunny Khalsa, Michael Halsband, and Tara Israel, and Doug Kuntz, Morgan McGivern, Dell Cullum, and Durell Godfrey from The Star’s regular roster.
“East represents an authentic coin, with real-life stories on one side and honest analysis of longstanding issues on the other,” Helen S. Rattray, The Star’s publisher, said. “Those on the East team are looking deeply into what makes this community second to none and at the same time they’re having fun.”
East had an initial print run of 20,000 copies, half of which will be distributed with the Thursday Star; the balance will be circulated for free pickup in North and South Fork retail businesses, public transportation hubs, and hotels, restaurants, and inns. East also will appear online.